Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-31

French books, but have never seen them |
in California to my knowledge
Mr.. Woolsey-We have an olive tree in
our garden, and very beautiful one, and
found that it was bored thoroughly with
the twig-boring beetle. l never found
them so thick in the pear as / have in the
olive
Mr.. Cooper-That was probably the
oak-borer, and likely the surrounding oaks
were burnt off and they had been driven
down into the olive tree
Mr.. Tompkins-Do you thin out the
head of the olive treee at all to let the
sun in?
Mr.. Cooper-It is not necessary in Cali
fornia. The olive tree is very rapid
grower, and in pruning you have to do
exactly the opposite. The theory of lop-
ping off the perpendicular branches, as adj
vocated i'll the French books by all the
authors, SO as to allow the lower limbs to
bend out and give sunlight to the interior
of the tree, is not needed in California.
These limbs would all overbear so that
they would break off: and while the tree
is rapidly growing, the outside branches,
as soon as they would get full of fruit,
would bend out and touch the ground if
YOU didn't prop them up. There is no
necessity of inside pruning in small tree.
The tree overbears III some years,
SIZE OF CUTTINGS, ETC.
We plant cuttings about II inches long,
from inch in diameter up to q inches.
We also make cuttings to l inch These
| cuttings we plant in the field where the
| tree is 70 grow permanently. We plant
| diagonally; that is, the top to the north,
TO keep the sunlight, as much as possible,
from cracking open the limb that is ex-
posed. We put the cuttings about 10
inches deep at the foot We saw the cut
thugs off with a sharp saw, so as not to in
jure them. Some have painted or waxed
the top, which is a very good plan, though
| never did We take the cutting off as
soon as we have picked the fruit
Transplanting of small trees has not
been very successful, probably from want
of care. The trees plant out from grow.
ing in the nursery are as thick around as q
chair-leg-say an inch in diameter-and
some of them are 10 feet high. The olive
tree that | am going to move in the spring
l trim off like cane four feet high, leav.
ing nothing but a stalk, and those that
have Il good root are sure to grow.
plant in the nursery say six or eight
inches apart, and the rows five or six feet
apart-so | can work them with horse
In the nursery we work them every week
or two. They require the same care as tC
grow any vegetable.
| never irrigated. | recommend, how.
ever, in planting cuttings out on high land
that they had better be watered twice dur.
ing the season, and the water can be car.
ried in wagon. | would give then
about twenty gallons. Generally, when
have watered cuttings, / give about ter
gallons al time to each cutting, and water
them twice. Captain Crosse says he has
plants.
A Delegates cutting an inch in
diameter more desirable than one quar-
ter of an inch?
MIR. Cooper-Ies, sir; nurserymen will
prefer an inch to any other size-an inch
to an inch and quarter or an inch and 9
half
A Delegate-What percentage die o.
yours?
Mr.. "copper" planted out an orchard
last winter of over twenty acres, and
think there are not twenty that are moi
growing nicely-that is, cuttings set il
right from the tree.
A Delegate-Did you water them before
| they started?
Mr.. Cooper-We watered about the time
the ground needed it, without paving any
attention TO the growth. Some of then
had started and some of them had not.
had cuttings planted out in March that are
four feet high.
A Delegate-You advise roofing in per
manent rows rather than putting in nursery
rows?
Mr.. Cooper-No sir; do not advise it
1t is more convenient for me to do it.
plant some in the field and some in the
nursery; and where they failed to grow ii
the field | substituted trees the following
year. 1t is a very good thing to plant in
the field after you have the ground care.
fully prepared. Plant the cuttings out in
the permanent place, and plant number
in the nursery, taking good care of them
to make trees to plant where the Others
! fail, and then you have an orchard that is
pretty nearly the same size.